Honda outshines Maruti with Amaze bookings

Honda outshines Maruti with Amaze bookings

The Amaze, Honda's first diesel car in India, has seen several buyers line up for test drives and dealers struggling to meet increasing demand.

Less than three weeks into its launch, Honda Cars India Ltd has got a little more than 22,000 bookings for the Amaze sedan, outshining the response Maruti Suzuki India received for the Swift Dzire, launched a year ago.

The Amaze, Honda's first diesel car in India, has seen several buyers come for test drives and dealers struggling to meet increasing demand across the country.

It has, thus, become the most successful model in Honda's 18-year history in India, surpassing even the Brio hatchback and City sedan.

Honda outshines Maruti with Amaze bookings

Honda, the eighth largest car maker in India, launched the Amaze at Rs 499,000 for the petrol model and Rs 599,000 for the diesel model (both prices ex-showroom, Delhi) on April 11.

India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, which cut the original Dzire to size to gain the excise benefit and relaunched in February last year, had witnessed a booking of around 20,000 units in the first 18-20 days.

"We have witnessed a large number of walk-ins since the launch of the Amaze; several more wait to drive the car. On most days, the showrooms are open till 8 pm, but now, it's extended to 10-10.30 pm," said an executive from Honda Cars India.

Honda outshines Maruti with Amaze bookings

The promising start for the Amaze across domestic markets has led to a sharp increase in waiting periods for the sedan with some stretching to over two months on select variant and colour combinations.

"The response has been overwhelming, but we are not sharing any booking figures yet," said a Honda Car India spokesperson.